Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-07-08
the frst to speak. His voice was

Sgne hrsC 70 spea = his Il u voice Was
firm
looks hard, but Ne can only die
once. We took our lives ia our hands
when we came on this voyage and Ne
will die, il we have TO die, like men
who know their duty, and shrink from
no sacrifice in its peri rmance. !"
Them, said Henriot, tour one
change is now, and ,leveling his rifle
he fired at our nearest enemy. Page
and I fired in turn, but without effect
Then We all loaded and fired together.
SOneof the enemy's crew. evidently
their expert balloonist, was up in the
ropes, and when our smoke dispersed
we saw him hanging by one hand
swaying outward, aud ia anothe
minute he relaxed his hold and
fell earthward. I covered my face
and shuddered and u feeling Of
giddiness came over me. was re.
called from the semi torpor Of horror
by the reports Of my companions ri.
f1es and the jar oecasioned by the
parting OF a rope in our balloon. We
were not doing all the firing. Our enc.
mics on the north and east had open
ed out on us and were evidently with
In range, as our cordaga had been cut
and the basket struck. We found a
ray OF hope, however, in the TACT that
our first adversary had lost its cap.
tain and was now evidently badly
managed. We were soon above it,
and dropping our terrible little dyna-
mite shells upon it. 81 ~ !.
f A. 1x-, 70 rol h a 7, r,1,,lS
not explode them, but it is prob
able we had yet failed to
strike it, as presently we heard one
crack like a rifle, followed Immediate
ly by the explosion OF the gas bag, and
saw the collapsed balloon go down
with its shrieking freight of doomed
souls. ..It ii -
"Up! up" cried Henriot. "Throw
out ballast! Up! Quick!" and over
board went our sand bags. Werapid-
ly rose to the level OF our fresh ad-
versary, and, our confidence greatly.
strengthen by the result of our first
engagement, we were just about to fire
together when I heard a loud report,
felt a violent jar and saw our balloon
part from the car. A chain shot had
severed our rigging!
Down! Down! Down!
God of heaven with what master
touches memory paints on the men
tai vision the scenes of lifetime, in
the supreme moment preceding it's
final extinction! Plunging through
the ethereal void with the Velocity OF
a rifle bullet I became a child again
and felt on my white head the tender
caress of gentle mothers hand. I
lived over the scenes of my boyhood,
cursed myself for youthful follies and
lamented the dearth of good III my
past. The friction OF my ever doub.
hing velocity through the air seemed to
warm my brain and marked the false
step that had led to my failure in life
and laughed in self ridlcule at the
conceits had harbored of successes
not mine but the mere freaks OF for
tunate accident. + saw so much of
littleness and failure-so much OF folly
and error-in my life that I asked
myself if / was not base imposter to
accept the affection OF devoted wife
and the love Of tender little ones.
Did | fear? Only the crash-the ter
rible impact which must instantly
crush out life and reduce me to an un-
recognizable mass. Not a moment Of
my life had I been free and indepen-
dent of the influences OF my environ
ment. l did not create myself or
shape my destiny. I was q weak YES
sci. Was it blasphemy to feel that
my Maker best knew my capacity?
Was it q false hope to trust to the
justice OF Him who knew the hidden
springs Of action? All! the green plain
the bright sunrise-home-wif
"Just spit out the blood. There!
Take a little water. The last one
was twister, tell your
Mechanically I did as ordered, feel.
ing dazed and stunned.
did Ibid Fl began.
"No; never yell. But they came
hard. You did not feel any pain, did
your"
I had been less than two minutes
under nitrous oxide gas in a dentists
chair and had four teeth extracted
John Carrlck In the Journalist.